


Understanding

by LearnedFoot



Series: Doctor Who/MCU Crossovers [3]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Crossover, Drabble Sequence, F/F, Femslash in spaaace, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-10-24 08:43:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20703152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LearnedFoot/pseuds/LearnedFoot
Summary: Natasha can hardly believe this rescue is real.





	Understanding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Wavesinger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Wavesinger/gifts).

The first time Natasha steps onto the TARDIS, she wonders if the whole impossible rescue is simply the last hallucinatory gasps of her dying brain.

The Doctor—ridiculous name, but then, so is Captain America—watches her, expectant. “Well?”

“It’s big.”

“I usually get more than that,” the Doctor pouts. She wears her emotions on her sleeve, and yet is somehow unreadable.

“You see half the universe disappear into dust, your bar for impressive gets higher.”

The Doctor considers this, serious.

“Well then,” she declares, turning to her controls with a flourish, “I’ll have to take you somewhere really cool.”

\---

For weeks, Natasha deflects the Doctor’s questions about her past. She’s not sure what to make of her new companion, but she knows she’s not ready to lose her company—not until she can find another way home, anyway. 

But then they stumble on Daleks; she sees the rage in the Doctor’s eyes, hears the tremble in her voice as she makes impossible decisions with the determination of someone familiar with bad choices.

After, Natasha admits, “I’ve killed a lot of people.”

The Doctor smiles, as if she’s been expecting this, and takes her hand. “Not as many as me.”

\---

The sex comes easily; it always has when Natasha lets herself actually want someone: skills she acquired for awful reasons put to good use. The adventures that turn into missions are easy, too. Natural.

The hard part is accepting fixed points in time, the things she can’t undo, so infuriating she almost, _almost_, allows herself to cry.

Even harder: deciding to go home anyway.

“I have a team,” she explains. “They need me.”

The Doctor nods, resigned. 

“Come with me,” Natasha offers.

“I have a universe. It needs me.”

Their eyes meet, and, for once, Natasha understands the Doctor perfectly.


End file.
